The Wolf Among Us is an exciting crime noir adventure game set in a Manhattan full of exiled fairytale characters, and difficult decisions.

Telltale games has found its groove, and its blending the world of comic books and video games into an unique story telling device with challenging choices to be made. The Wolf Among Us is a prequel, talking place 20 years before the Fables comic books. A series where fairytale characters, both well and lesser known, are living in New York City.

Players control the Big Bad Wolf from the Red Riding Hood story, who has been given the role of sheriff in their new urban environment. The Fables have to keep their true nature hidden from the humans they walk among the public through the use of a glamour spell which needs to be purchased. I was glad to see that some characters either cannot afford the glamour spell, or chose to take on their true form because the art style used in The Wolf Among us is bold, bright and colorful. Great representation of what comic book characters wood look like pulled from the pages and given a 3D shape. Everything is surrounded in a bold black line and environments contain more colorful lighting and textures than previous Telltale games.

It is difficult to play The Wolf Among Us and not be reminded of The Walking Dead game Telltale released last year. The core mechanics from TWD are all present, but The Wolf brings some much needed refinements. A run button has been added to let players retrace their steps more quickly. Actions scenes have become easier to deal with, providing some aim assist when moving the reticule. This improvements make for a mechanically more enjoyable experience, never having to fight the game for control. Also new to the Wolf Among Us is the ability to invert the Y axis.

Unfortunately the game has some controller support issues if you are playing on the PC version, depending on the operating system, there are workarounds that were created by users originally for The Walking Dead, which also work for The Wolf Among Us. Not a huge issue (fixed for Windows 8 users with the 8.1 update) but can lead to a rocky start for those looking to sit back on their couch and enjoy the game with a controller.

The Wolf Among Us also puts more of the emphasis on giving the illusion of player choice. It is great that the gameplay has been improved to make the decision making process just as tense and challenging as the action & combat segments.

The story of The Wolf Among Us is based upon an existing comic book fiction, however even if you have not heard of the Fables comic book series you can still enjoy the familiar fairy tale characters living in a gritty New York City. Characters from stories like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Beowulf, Beauty and the Beast are all present with quality voice acting and writing.

The Final WordEpisode One of The Wolf Among Us is dark and beautiful at the same time. The game scratches a crime noir itch even though the detective work is on the lighter side. While we will have to wait until the end of the season to see how impactful the different decision branches are, Telltale does a great job at making the choices feeling meaningful while not presenting a clear path. The voice acting is strong, the art is beautiful. If you like adventure games with a dark story, it would be remiss of you to not play The Wolf Among Us.